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Dessert

Mela Biscuits

Mela biscuits are chocolate biscuits made with chocolate, butter, sugar, egg yolk, flour, vanilla, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Mela Biscuits

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the chocolate

  1. Combine chocolate and enough water in a clean enamelled saucepan to prevent sticking. Dissolve over low heat.

Make the dough

  1. Cream together butter and sugar in a bowl.

  2. Beat in the egg yolk until well combined.

  3. Slowly add the melted chocolate to the mixture and stir well.

  4. Sift in 2 ounces of flour and beat again.

  5. Work in the remaining 2 ounces of flour by hand until combined.

  6. Roll out the dough lightly and stamp out biscuits.

Bake

  1. Place biscuits on a baking sheet lined with greased paper.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 5 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Good chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, once melted, enriches the dough with richness and colour.
Fresh butter
Carries fat that creams with sugar to give the biscuits a tender, short texture.
Castor sugar
Creams with the butter to add sweetness and help create a light, aerated structure.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and fat, and helps bind the dough together.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets the biscuits as the dough bakes.

The step that matters

Dissolving the chocolate over low heat. Chocolate scorches and seizes when overheated. Gentle heat keeps it smooth and fluid, so it blends evenly into the butter and sugar mixture instead of forming lumps or a bitter, burnt taste.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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